Weft stop motion for looms



Oct. 10, 1939. 4,Q A, D| CENSO AL K 2,175,558

WEFT STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Filed June 6, 195s 4 sheets-shea 1 :1n/'2% 1 INVENTGRS,

ATTORNEY.

A. A. nl cENso er A1. 2,175,558

WEFT STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Oct. l0, 1939.

Filed June 6, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 10, 1939- l A. A. DI CENSO ET A1.

WEFT STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Filed June 6, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 X ATTORNEY.

Oct. 1o, 1939. A, A. "D, CENSO ET`AL 2,175,558

WEFT STOPMOTION FOR LOOMS Filed June 6, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WEFT STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Application June 6, 1938, Serial No. 212,004

8 Claims. (Cl. 139-370) The principal object of this invention is to provide an efficient and simple mechanism to be associated with a loom to cause stopping thereof on failure of lling (as breakage or undue slackness thereof) during the forward stroke of the lay, i. e., before the shed has changed and the filling has been beaten up and while the warp is therefore in such state that the failed filling may be withdrawn and replaced or put in order.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through a loom embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2, Fig. 4, with the left-hand portion of the mechanism for closing one break in the circuit broken away;

Fig. 3 is a plan of such portion of said mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4, Fig. 1;

Figs. 5 and 6 are a side and a front elevation of the stopping rod 3 and associated means;

Fig, '7 is a diagrammatic view of the circuit and associated parts;

Fig. 8 shows the lay in section and the feeler for closing another break in the circuit;

Fig. 9 is an isometric view of the circuit-closing part of such feeler; and

Figs. l() and 11 are a side elevation and a plan view of means for closing the first-mentioned break in the circuit, being a modification.

I is the frame or fixed structure of the loom including the breast-beam 2, and 3 is the batteri or lay having its lay-swords 4 pivoted in the frame at 5. 6 is the usual brake-lever or stopping lever fulorumed at 6m and having a depending arm 6a which, when impinged by a dog I on rod 8 on the latter being shifted to the right in Fig. l, involves shifting of said lever from the position shown to braking position. Rod 8 is pivoted to a lever 9 fulcrumed at I0 and carrying a pivoted dog II, which when elevated by the armaturestem I2 of a solenoid I3, comes into the path of a bunter I4 on the reed 3a of the lay structure so that on the latters next back-stroke movement of the brake-lever 6 to stopping position will be effected by the bunter. So much is common in looms which are equipped with electrical means, including the solenoid, for effecting stopping of the loom in case of warp-failure or depletion of the weft or lling in a shuttle.

In carrying out the invention lever 9 is extended downwardly and has its extremity bent outwardly, as at 9a, and then downwardly, its terminus being guided by a loop I5 aflixed to a bracket I5 itself bolted to the far side of the l loom frame shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The portion 9c (Fig. 2) and a terminal hump 9d equipped with an upstanding guiding loop Se. A bar designated generally II in Fig. 1 is pivoted to the lay structure and rests on hump 9d and penetrates loop 9e; this bar is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 as formed in two sections, I'Ia and I'Ib, so as to be variable in length, section Ila having a longitudinal slot llc receiving clamping screws I'Id on part I'Ib. In section I'Ib is a longitudinal slot IIe` over the hole 9c of projection 9b of the lever 9. A hookshaped coupler I8 is pivoted to and pendant from the dog II, being longitudinally adjustable by comprising two parts connected by a turn-buckle i9 screwed onto their oppositely threaded ends, and its upturned end or hook proper I8a is permanently engaged in hole 9c so that the lever and coupler are movable forward and backward as a unit, If, the loom being driven, the coupler is elevated by the solenoid so that its hook proper enters the slot I'Ie of the bar, on the next ensuing forward stroke of the lay structure the free end of the hook proper, having entered said slot, will be engaged by the rear end of the slot and so shifted forward, the lever moving with it and so acting through rod 8 to effect movement of the lever 6 to stopping or braking position. The free end of the bunter and the rear end of slot I'Ie of bar II may be taken as abutments of what I term the lay-including means (here comprising parts 3-4-3a-I4--I'D each facing in one direction in which said means moves: when the means II-I9 moves into interposed relation to the lay-including means and the stopping means (SHS- 6), it will transmit motion from the former to the latter, that is to say, in this example, where the abutments face in opposite directions and the former means includes a lever 9 fulcrumed between its ends, the motion imparted by the bunter abutment on the back stroke of the lay and the motion imparted by the slot abutment on the forward stroke of the lay.

Bar II forms a circuit-closer thus: On bracket I6 and insulated therefrom at 20 are two spaced terminals 2| forming a break :c in the circuit to be described. This break is to be closed by a bent contact strip or contact II] on the bar section I'Ib, being insulated therefrom at I'Ix, Fig. 3, where a portion of one leg of the strip is shown broken away.

On the lay is a weft-fork 22 xed to a rockshaft 23 journaled in a bracket 24 on the lay. Its weight tends to depress the weft-fork into a slot 3b in the top of the lay and this ensues on absence of filling under the fork when, as the lay 9a. has a, forward projection 9b having a hole at structure moves forward, the following parts permit the fork to fall, to wit: A plunger 25 pivoted to the weft-fork rearward of its pivot and resting on a crank 26 pivoted in said bracket, the crank being connected by a link 2'| with some fixed point rearward of the pivot 5. When the lay structure moves back said parts raise the fork to permit the shuttle to pass. The mechanism comprising the weft-fork and its actuating means thus described is well known. On the rock-shaft is a circuit-closer comprising an insulating member 28 having a contact 29 which, when the weftfork is unsupported by the filling closes a break, as y, in the circuit existing between two terminals 30 aiilxed to the lay. We shall hereinafter term the device comprising the weft-fork shaft 23, and the circuit-closer a feeler.

In Figs. and 6 is shown means for determining the open or closed state of another break a in the circuit. When brake-lever 6 is moved to stopping position it engages by its lug 6b and soV in the usual way moves the starting lever 3| to the ofi position. On the shaft 32 to which the lever 3| is xed is fast a crank 33 forked to receive a plunger 34 supported by a bracket 35 on the breast-beam. When such lever moves to 01T position crank 33 acts through a spring 36 coiled between the crank and an abutment 34a on the plunger to retract the latter and hence its head or contact 34h clear of terminals 31 insulated from and affixed to bracket 35 and affording said break z. On the lay is an abutment 38 which, when the circuit-closer formed by the plunger is thus moved to open position, returns it to closed position on the next-ensuing forward stroke of the lay structure.

Referring to Fig. 7, let 39 be a conductor grounded at the right as shown and including the secondary of a transformer T, a fuse F, the solenoid |3 and a main circuit-closer C on or controlled by the brake-lever and being then branched. One branch, 39a, is grounded and may contain warp-thread-supported fallers, such as 40, to close the circuit if a warp-thread w breaks; however, this part of the diagram is not material to the invention. 'Ihe other branch, also grounded, has the break to be closed by the contact Hf, the break y to be closed by the feeler contact 29 and the break z to be closed by the plunger 34,

Operation Of course the motions of the back-and-forthmoving lay structure and oscillating feeler are co-ordinated as usual, the feeler being up (clear of the shuttle path when the lay structure is back and the shed open) and allowed to fall toward the position to close break y when the lay structure moves forward. And it must be taken into account that the feeler always falls suiciently to close the circuit at y, to wit, because it nally falls off the filling and into slot 3b in order tol permit the reed to beat up the filling. In short, there is a period, which we term the feeling period, in which the feeler will be held from closing break y if the illing is intact but thereafter it inevitably assumes the position to close such break. Therefore, in order to cause stopping of the loom for failure of filling during the feeling period the circuit must on every forward stroke of the lay-structure be closed everywhere else, and in order to prevent stopping of the loom by the closing of said break after said period has passed it must be open elsewhere than at said break. Hence, during the feeling period, the

circuit remains closed at .'L (i. e., in the rearward segment of the cycle of movement of bar Il, by the wiping of contact I'lf over the terminals 2|), but at or before the termination of that period the break at :c is opened; if the feeler is allowed to fall by failure of filling during said period the loom will be stopped (as an incident of the solenoid causing the coupling I8 to connect the bar and lever 9, as already described) but when it falls off the filling to close said break after said period has passed the loom continues in operation, because break a: has been opened.

Up to the time of the stopping the circuit remains closed at 2, but when on the stopping movement of lever 6 lever 3| was by the latter moved to stopping position lever 3| causes plunger 34 to break the circuit at 2, thus leaving the circuit dead when the loom is restarted and until the lay structure makes its next forward stroke, for the following reason: When the loom was stopped such occurred during the forward stroke of the lay structure and hence before the shed could change and the reed could beat up the failed filling-in short, while the conditions are such that the weaver can with facility repair the failed stretch of filling, turning back the loom to open the shed if necessary. Having effected the repair he shoots the shuttle through the shed with one hand while holding the end of its trailing filling with the other. But this new stretch of filling is likely to be slack, wherefore the loom would be at once stopped (asin any case of failing filling due to slackness) as the lay moves forward to complete the stroke which was interrupted. With the circuit open at e this cannot happen. But when the lay structure is undergoing its next forward stroke its abutment 38 shifts plunger 34 back to position to close said break, which of course remains closed until the loom is again stopped.

The adjustment of bar is present to make it possible to have the break .r closed during the feeling period but open, and hence the circuit dead, when the feeler falls oil' the filling and so closes break y after the feeling period has passed.

The circuit-closer C is not indispensable; it merely serves as usual to deaden the electrical system when the brake-lever stands in closed position.

In many looms the feeler rises quite late in the back stroke of the lay structure, wherefore the break at y would remain closed after the break at had been closed according to the construction previously described and so in such case the loom would stop before any cycle, once started, had been completed. In such case the means for closing break a' shown in Figs. 10 and 11 may be used. Here there are two metal terminals 4| aifording such break and insulated from each other by 42, they being superposed and elastic and normally spaced at their free ends. On a pivot 43 in the curled free end of the lower terminal is free to swing a pawl 44 (here pendent and of insulating material). A bar 45 (assumed to be connected to the lay structure and supported by lever 9 and preferably also longitudinally adjustable in extent the same as bar Il) has a terminal upstanding hump forming a detent and formed by a notch 45a in its top surface, on which surface the lower end of the pawl bears during the rear ward segment of the cycle of movement of the bar with the lay structure and after the detent passes the pawl. When the bar, with the pawl bearing thereon, returns from its back stroke the pawl is engaged by the hump and the bar swings 75,

the pawl about its pivot and thus imparts a lift thereto, which causes the lower terminal to contact with the upper one. On the back stroke the pawl is swung by the end of the bar idly to the position shown. According to this construction, in short, the break at :c is closed and then opened within the period in which the feeler tends to maintain closed the break at y, for which purpose the lower terminal 4I and the pawl 44 constitute a normally open circuit-closing means for the break at X and the bar 45 as a part of the lay-including means constitutes means to move said circuit-closing means toclosed position and then free the same within said period.

Having thus fully described our invention what we claim is:

l. The hereindescribed loom including a reciprocatory lay structure, stopping means including a pendant lever, an element connected to the lay structure and having a sliding connection with the lever, one of the p-arts formed by said lever and element having a hole and the other a slotl extending lengthwise of th-e path of movement oi the lay structure, a coupler permanently engaged in the hole and movable from a position in to a position out of the path of movement of the end of the slot, and means to move the coupler to one or the other position.

2. The hereindescribed loom including backand-forward-moving lay-including means, stopping means movable to stopping position, an electro-magnet-including means to couple the stopping means to the rst means for movement thereby to said position when said first means moves forward, an electric circuit including the magnet and having a break therein and being open independently of said break, an element closing said break, and means to close the circuit where it is open independently of said break and while the latter is closed, said element being arranged to be moved by the stopping means to open said break when the stopping means moves toward said position and thereupon to be moved by the first means to close said break.

3. The hereindescribed loom including a backand-forth-moving lay-including means having a rearwardly extending top surface and a terminal `lipstanding hump thereon, an electro-magnetic device to be actuated-an electric circuit containing said device, means to close the circuit including a circuit-closing pendant, and means to support the pendant depending into the path of movement of said hump and so as to bear on said surface during a part o-f the cycle of movement of the rst means, said pendant having its pivotal portion movable up and down and guided in such movement by the second-named means.

4. The hereindescribed loom including supporting structure, back-and-orward moving lay-including means having abutments respectively iacing in the directions in which said means so moves, means, including a lever fulcrumed between its ends in said structure and having its fulcrum between the abutments, to stop the loom on movement of the rst-named means in either direction, and means to transmit movement from the first-named to the second-named means movable to and from a position between both abutments and points of the lever at respectively opposite sides of its fulcrum.

5. The hereindescribed loom including backand-forward-moving lay-including means, an electric-magnet device to be actuated, and an electric circuit including said device and having two breaks therein, a feeler on the lay yieldingly urged to position to close one break but adapted to be held therefrom by the unfailing filling, means to retract the feeler away from said position on the back stroke of the lay, and a normally open circuit-closing means for the other break, said lay-including means having means to move said circuit-closing means to closed position and then free the same during each forward stroke of the lay-including means and within the period during which the feeler tends to maintain the rst break closed.

6. The hereindescribed loom including a reciprocatory lay structure, a bar pivotally connected with and movable lengthwise of itself by the lay structure, stopping means adapted to be moved to stop the loom by force applied by the bar when the latter moves in one direction, and a device to transmit movement from the bar to the stopping means movable into and out of interposition between them across the path of movement of the bar, said bar being at a point removed from its pivot supported by one of the parts formed by said means and device.

7. The hereindescribed loom including a reciprocatory lay structure, a bar pivotally connected with and movable lengthwise of itself by the lay structure, stopping means adapted to be moved to stop the loom by force applied by the bar when the latter moves in one direction, and a device to transmit movement from the bar to the stopping means movable into and out of interposition between them across the path of movement of the bar, said bar being at a point removed from its pivot supported by said stopping means.

8. The combination set forth in claim 6 characterized by the part of the bar between which and the stopping means said device is interposed being adjustable lengthwise of the bar.

ALFRED A. DI CENSO. ADOLPI-I SCHAUB. 

